Wrapping sheet dispenser for roll wrapping machine

ABSTRACT

A ROLLER WRAPPING MACHINE IS PROVIDED WITH STRUCTURE FOR SUPPORTING A ROLL OF WRAPPER PAPER ABOVE A WRAPPING STATION. A VACUMN BOX HAVING A FLAT DOWNWARDLY INCLINED WRAPPING PAPER GUIDING SURFACE IS ARRANGED BETWEEN THE WRAPPING STATION AND THE WRAPPER ROLL. A LOWER END OF THE BOX IS ARRANGED ADJACENT THE LOWER PORTION OF A ROLL TO BE WRAPPED AT THE WRAPPING STATION AND AN UPPER END OF THE BOX IS BOTH ABOVE AND REARWARD OF THE LOWER END. A ROLLER IS MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT ITS CENTRAL AXIS IN PARALLEL SPACED ALIGNMENT WITH THE UPPER END OF THE BOX AND ANOTHER ROLLER IS MOUNTED FOR ROTATION ABOUT ITS CENTRAL AXIS IN PARALLEL SPACED ALIGNMENT WITH THE LOWER END OF THE BOX. THE WRAPPING PAPER GUIDING SURFACE IS PROVIDED WITH A PLURALITY OF ELONGATED SLOTS EXTENDING ALONG THE SURFACE PERPENDICULAR TO THE ROLLERS. A PLURALITY OF ENDLESS AIR PERVIOUS BELTS ENCIRCLE THE ROLLERS WITH EACH BELT LAPPING ONE OF THE SLOTS. AN AIR EVACUATING PUMP IS CONNECTED TO THE BOX FOR EVACUATING AIR FROM THE BOX AND DRAWING AIR INTO THE BOX THROUGH THE BELTS AND SLOTS HOLD A PORTION OF THE WRAPPING PAPER FLAT THEREON. A DRIVE MOTOR IS CONNECTED TO ONE OF THE ROLLERS TO MOVE THE BELTS, AND WRAPPING PAPER HELD FLAT THEREON, DOWNWARDLY ALONG THE GUIDING SURFACE TO DISPENSE THE WRAPPING PAPER FROM THE LOWER END OF THE BOX ALONG A PATH CONVERGING TOWARD THE WRAPPING STATION. THE UPPER END OF THE BOX IS SUPPORTED FOR PIVOTAL MOVEMENT ABOUT A HORIZONTAL AXIS PARALLEL TO THE GUIDING SURFACE. A POWER OPERATED ACTUATING LINKAGE IS OPERATIVE TO PIVOT THE BOX ABOUT THE HORIZONTAL AXIS AND SWING THE LOWER END OF THE BOX TOWARD THE WRAPPING STATION TO PLACE THE LEADING EDGE OF WRAPPING PAPER HELD ON THE GUIDING SURFACE, IN FLAT CONTACT WITH A LOWER PORTION OF A ROLL TO BE WRAPPED. THE BOX IS SUPPORTED BY TRACKS FOR UPWARD MOVEMENT TO AN ELEVATED POSITION IN WHICH THE LOWER END OF THE BOX CLEARS A SPACE THROUGH WHICH A WRAPPED ROLL MAY BE DISCHARGED.   D R A W I N G

Fgb. 20, 1973 G. E. REYNOLDS ETAL 15,

WRAPPING SHEET DISPENSER FOR ROLL WRAPPING MACHINE Filed Dec. 28. 1970United States Patent 3,716,964 WRAPPING SHEET DISPENSER FOR ROLLWRAPPING MACHINE George E. Reynolds, Donald J. Mattison, and Fred J.

Gedemer, Appleton, Wis., assignors to Allis-Chalmers ManufacturingCompany, Milwaukee, Wis.

Filed Dec. 28, 1970, Ser. No. 101,945 Int. Cl. B65b 41/06 US. Cl. 53-3892 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE A roll wrapping machine is providedwith structure for supporting a roll of wrapper paper above a wrappingstation. A vacuum box having a flat downwardly inclined wrapping paperguiding surface is arranged between the wrapping station and the wrapperroll. A lower end of the box is arranged adjacent the lower portion of aroll to be wrapped at the wrapping station and an upper end of the boxis both above and rearward of the lower end. A roller is mounted forrotation about its central axis in parallel spaced alignment with theupper end of the box and another roller is mounted for rotation aboutits central axis in parallel spaced alignment with the lower end of thebox. The wrapping paper guiding surface is provided with a plurality ofelongated slots extending along the surface perpendicular to therollers. A plurality of endless air pervious belts encircle the rollerswith each belt lapping one of the slots. An air evacuating pump isconnected to the box for evacuating air from the box and drawing airinto the box through the belts and slots to hold a portion of thewrapping paper flat thereon. A drive motor is connected to one of therollers to move the belts, and wrapping paper held flat thereon,downwardly along the guiding surface to dispense the wrapping paper fromthe lower end of the box along a path converging toward the wrappingstation. The upper end of the box is supported for pivotal movementabout a horizontal axis parallel to the guiding surface. A poweroperated actuating linkage is operative to pivot the box about thehorizontal axis and swing the lower end of the box toward the wrappingstation to place the leading edge of wrapping paper held on the guidingsurface, in flat contact with a lower portion of a roll to be wrapped.The box is supported by tracks for upward movement to an elevatedposition in which the lower end of the box clears a space through whicha wrapped roll may be discharged.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION Field of the invention This inventionrelates to machines for Wrapping cylindrically shaped articles such asrolls of paper and in particular to an apparatus for dispensing paperused to wrap such rolls.

Description of the prior art US. Pat. No. 2,564,594 of 1951 discloses aroll wrapping machine in which several supply rolls of wrapping paperare arranged above and to the rear of a wrapping station, and a web ofwrapping paper is led to the wrapping station from only one of thesupply rolls at a time. A problem is presented by such a machine becausethe wrapping paper is tightly wound into a supply roll and the leadingedge of wrapping paper drawn from any of the supply rolls has a tendencyto curl. With a machine such as disclosed in US. Pat. No. 2,564,594 itwould be necessary for an operator to be present and guide the curledleading edge of the wrapping paper into engagement with the roll to bewrapped.

ice

US. Pat. No. 2,880,560 of 1959 discloses one solution to the foregoingproblem, by guiding the wrapping paper between a downwardly moving apronand a downwardly moving horizontally transverse guide rod, to theunderside of the roll to be wrapped. With such an arrangement, however,the leading edge of the Wrapper cannot be laid entirely flat against theroll to be wrapped because the guide rod is between the wrapper and theroll to be wrapped.

US. Pat. No. 2,938,319 of 1960 discloses another solution to theproblem, by dispensing the wrapper to the top of the roll to be wrappedbut this requires an additional mechanism for pressing the wrapper downonto the roll to be wrapped.

As will appear as the description of this invention proceeds, thepresent invention is directed to solving the aforementioned problem in amore acceptable manner.

SUMMARY OF THE PRESENT INVENTION It is an object of the presentinvention to provide a roll wrapping machine with a new and improvedwrapper dispensing mechanism which will hold flat a wrapper sheet andits leading edge, and press the leading edge of the wrapper sheet flatagainst an underside portion of a roll to be wrapped.

According to a preferred embodiment of the present invention a rollwrapping machine is provided with structure for supporting a roll ofwrapper paper above a wrapping station. A vacuum box having a fiatdownwardly inclined wrapping paper guiding surface is arranged betweenthe wrapping station and the wrapper roll. A lower end of the box isarranged adjacent the lower portion of a roll to be wrapped at thewrapping station and an upper end of the box is both above and rearwardof the lower end. A roller is mounted for rotation about its centralaxis in parallel spaced alignment with the upper end of the box andanother roller is mounted for rotation about its central axis inparallel spaced alignment with the lower end of the box. The wrappingpaper guiding surface is provided with a plurality of elongated slotsextending along the surface perpendicular to the rollers. A plurality ofendless air pervious belts encircle the rollers with each belt lappingone of the slots. An air evacuating pump is connected to the box forevacuating air from the box and drawing air into the box through thebelts and slots to hold a portion of the wrapping paper flat thereon. Adrive motor is connected to one of the rollers to move the belts, andwrapping paper held fiat thereon, downwardly along the guiding surfaceto dispense the wrapping paper from the lower end of the box along apath converging toward the wrapping station.

It is another feature of the invention that the upper end of the box issupported for pivotal movement about a horizontal axis parallel to theguiding surface. A power operated actuating linkage is operative topivot the box about the horizontal axis and swing the lower end of thebox toward the wrapping station to place the leading edge of wrappingpaper held on the guiding surface, in flat contact with a lower portionof a roll to be wrapped.

It is still another feature of the invention that the box is supportedby tracks for upward movement to an elevated position in which the lowerend of the box clears a space through which a wrapped roll may bedischarged.

Other features and objects of the invention that have been attained willappear from the more detailed description to follow with reference to anembodiment of the present invention shown in the accompany drawing.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawingshows diagrammatically a side elevation of a roll wrapping machineaccording to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a view of the Wrapping material dispenser and shows in brokenlines how it may be pivoted about a horizontal aixs; and

FIG. 3 is a view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2 and viewing thestructure in the direction indicated by arrows.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. 1, in a rollwrapping machine according to the present invention, a wrapping station1 comprises a pair of turning rolls 2, 3 for supportinga roll 4 which isto be Wrapped. The turning roll 2 is provided with a support 5 operativeto lower turning roll 2 and permits the roll 4 to be rolled along afloor surface 6 to a discharge station 7. Supporting structures 8, 9 areprovided for supporting several rolls 10 of wrapper material W, whichmay be paper, plastic or the like, and of different widths. Wrappermaterial W from each of the rolls 10, is directed to a pair of feedrolls 11, 12 operative to feed a measured length of wrapper W downwardlythrough a guide chute 13 to a dispenser 14 between fioor surface 6 andthe level of the support structure 9.

Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, the dispenser 14 comprises a vacuum box 15having a flat wrapper guiding surface 16, a rear wall 17 and upper andlower ends 18-, 19. A cylindrical roller 21 is attached by brackets 22to the end 18 of box 15, to rotate about a central axis XX through roll21 and in parallel spaced alignment with the end 18 of box 15. A secondcylindrical roller 25 is attached by brackets 26 to the end 19 of box15, to rotate about a central axis Y-Y' through roller 25 and inparallel spaced alignment with the end 19 of box 15. Selected portionsof the surface 16 are ported, preferably as shown, with a plurality ofelongated slots 30 extending along the surface 16 perpendicular to therollers 21, 25. A plurality of air pervious belts 31 encircle therollers 21, 25 with each belt 31 lapping one of the slots 30. An airevacuating pump 32 driven by a motor 33 is mounted on the rear wall 17,between a pair of adjacent belts 31 as shown in FIG. 3. The pump 32 asshown in FIG. 2, has an inlet 34 communicating with box 15 forevacuating air from the box 15 and drawing air into the box 15 throughthe belts 31 and slots 30 to hold a portion of the wrapper W flatthereon as shown in FIG. 1. A drive motor 35 (FIG. 3) is mounted on box15 and connected to the roller 21 (through a worm gear, not shown) tomove the belts 31 and wrapper W held fiat thereon, downwardly along theguiding surface 16 to dispense the wrapper from the lower end 19 of thebox 15.

The manner in which the box 15 is supported to dispense a wrapper W towrap roll 4, will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 3. A pairof laterally spaced track supports 40, 41 project upwardly from thefloor 6 and are joined with the support structures 8, 9. Carriage wheels42 are journaled in mounts 43 at each of the four corners of box 15 (seeFIG. 3) and the carriage wheels 42 ride on tracks 40, 41. A cable 45(see FIG. 1) is connected on one end to box 15 and on the other to adrum 46, which may be power driven by a motor (not shown). Winding cable45 onto drum 46 raises the entire dispenser to an elevated positionindicated by the fragmentary showing of box 15' by dotted lines. In theposition indicated at 15', the dispenser 14 clears a space over floor 6for the roll 4 to move from the wrapping station 1 to the dischargestation 7. With dispenser 14 in its lowered position as shown in FIG. 1,a roll such as roll 4, of the maximum diameter for which the machine isdesigned, will have the wrapper W pressed flat against a lower side ofroll 4. A power operated actuating linkage 50 is provided to positionthe dispenser 14 to engage rolls 4' of smaller diameter, in a mannerthat will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3.

As shown in FIGS. 2. and 3, the linkage 50 is connected on one end 51 tothe track support 40 and a second end 52 bears against a push plate 53mounted on box 15. The end 52 of the linkage 50, pivots about an axispiece 54 mounted in a fixed position on support 40. The linkage 50 alsoincludes a piston 55 and cylinder 56 operable to lengthen or shorten thecombined length thereof. With reference to FIG. 3, the cylinder 56 isoperable to shorten the combined length of piston 55 and cylinder 56 andpivot the end 52 to the position shown as 52' in broken lines. Thelinkage end 52 thereby pushes box 15 to pivot box 15 about the axis X-X'and the carriage wheels 42 that turn about axis Y-Y' are lifted 01f thetracks 40, 41. The box 15 is thereby pivotable to bring wrapper W intoengagement with a roll 4', (see FIG. 1) which is of smaller diameterthan the roll 4.

Any machine such as has been described, is likely to include a number ofadditional devices and assemblies Well known in this art and not part ofthe present invention. For example, an assembly '60 may be provided forcrimping portions of a wrapper overhanging ends of roll W and such anassembly may be constructed as disclosed in US. Pat. 3,063,214. Furthera knife 61 may be provided to cut the wrapper W into sheets of desiredlength. Such a knife 61 may be a rotary disk turned by a motor 62 andcarried by a carrier 63 supported by structure 64 for movement acrossthe width of Wrapper W. Still another included assembly would includeone or more, movable or stationary, glue nozzles 65 for spraying glueonto wrapper W.

In the operation of a wrapping machine such as has been described a roll4 or 4' is positioned on turning rolls 2, 3 (as shown in FIG. 1) and awrapper W of a desired material and width, selected from one of therolls 10, is drawn from a roll 10 by a pair of the feed rolls 11, 12 andfed downwardly into chute 13. When the leading edge of Wrapper W islowered to the level of glue nozzle 65, the rolls 11, 12 may be stoppedand glue is sprayed onto the leading edge of wrapper W while the vacuumdrawn by pump 32 holds the leading edge of wrapper W flat on belts 31.Then as rolls 11, 12 once again feed wrapper W downwardly, the motor 35turns roller 21 to move the belts 31 downwardly until the leading edgeof wrapper W reaches the lower end 19 of the vacuum box 15. Whenwrapping a roll such as identified as 4', rolls 11, 12 and motor 35 arethen stopped while the actuating linkage 50 pivots the box 15 about theaxis X-X' until the leading edge of wrapper W is placed against a lowerportion of roll 4' as shown in FIG. 1. The roll 4' is then turned onturning rolls 2, 3 in the direction indicated by the arrows and thewrapper W is drawn around the roll 4' until the desired length ofwrapper W has passed downwardly past the knife 61. Rolls 2, 3, motor 35and rolls 11, 12, are then again stopped while knife 61 cuts wrapper W.Then, while rolls 11, 12 remain stopped, rolls 2, 3 and motor 35 arerestarted and the wrapping of the roll 4' is completed. After thewrapping of roll 4 is com pleted and overhanging wrapper portions arecrimped by the assembly 60, drum 46 is rotated to wind up cable 45 andraise the vacuum box 15 to the position 15 and clear a space beneath box15 for the roll 4' to pass from the wrapping station 1 to the dischargestation 7. Drum 46 then unwinds cable 45 and lowers box 15 to theposition shown in solid lines in FIG. 1 and the machine is then ready towrap another roll.

From the foregoing detailed description of the present invention it hasbeen shown how the object of the present invention has been attained ina preferred manner. However modification and equivalents of thedisclosed concepts such as readily occur to those skilled in the art areintended to be included in the scope of this invention. Thus, the scopeof the invention is intended to be limited only by the scope of theclaims such as are or may here after be, appended hereto.

The embodiments of theinvention in which an exclusive property orprivilege is claimed are defined as follows:

1. In a roll wrapping machine having a wrapping station, means forsupporting a supply roll of wrapper material above the wrapping station,and a dispenser for guiding the wrapping material from the supply rollto the wrapping station, the dispenser comprising:

(a) a vacuum box having a flat wrapping material guiding surfaceinclined downwardly from an upper wrapping material receiving end towarda lower end and toward the wrapping station, and with at least a portionof the surface extending between the upper and lower ends being ported;

(b) an endless air pervious carrier belt encircling the upper and lowerends of the box and lapping the ported portion of the paper guidingsurface;

() an air evacuating pump connected to the box for evacuating air fromthe box and drawing air into the box through the carrier belt and portedportion of the wrapping material guiding surface to hold a portion ofthe wrapping material flat thereon;

(d) a rotary drive motor connected to the belt and operative to move thebelt and wrapping material held thereon downwardly along the portedsurface to dispense wrapping material from the lower end of the boxalong a path converging toward the wrapping station;

(e) support structure having a portion at a level intermediate thewrapping station and the means for sup porting a supply roll of wrappingmaterial, and adapted for supporting the upper end of the box forpivotal movement about a horizontal axis parallel to the guidingsurface; and

(f) a power operated actuating linkage connected on one end to thesupport struncture and on another end to the box and operable to pivotthe box about the horizontal axis and swing the lower end of the guidingsurface toward the wrapping station to place Wrapping maten'al held onthe guiding surface in flat contact with a lower portion of a rollpositioned for wrapping at the wrapping station.

2. In a wrapping machine according to claim 1 the support structurecomprising track means extending upwardly of the horizontal axis and thebox being supported thereby for movement upwardly along the track from afirst position in which the lower end of the box is adjacent the lowerportion of a roll to be wrapped at the wrapping station, to a second andelevated position in which the lower end of the box clears a spacethrough which a wrapped roll may be discharged.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,380,223 4/1968 Jasper et al.53-389 X 3,407,565 10/1968 Bender et a1. 53-380 X 3,385,026 5/1968SChmermund S3389 X 3,367,221 2/1968 Schmermund 53-389 X THERON E.CONDON, Primary Examiner E. F. DESMOND, Assistant Examiner US. Cl. X.R.53-21 1

